Pages

intro

Welcome! This site is for students to practice their English and keep up to date with environmental issues.

TEN MINUTES OF ENGLISH A DAY!You can find a mixture of reading, crosswords, videos and short English lessons: these will normally be vocabulary, but I may also treat you to some grammar!There are now over 240 lessons on this blog. Look through the Blog archive, Post labels and Popular Posts to find what you want.

If you want to print a lesson, click on the lesson title and then look for the Print Friendly icon.

''Let nature be your teacher''William Wordsworth, poet, 1770-1850

''Joy in looking and comprehending is nature's most beautiful gift''Albert Einstein, physicist, 1879-1955

Friday, 15 August 2014

Level: Intermediate B1Please click the 'Print Friendly' icon at the bottom of the page if you want to print this exercise.

Confused about millions, milliards and billions?!Read on!

Millions
and billions

The long and short scales are two large-number naming systems used throughout
the world. Many countries, including most in continental Europe, use the long scale whereas most English-speaking
countries and Arabic-speaking countries use the short scale.

Long scale is the English
translation of the French term échelle
longue. It refers to a system of large-number names in which every new term
greater than million
is a million times the previous term. Thus, billion means a million millions (1012),
trillion means a million billions (1018),
and so on.

Short scale is the English translation of the French term échelle courte. It refers to a system of
large-number names in which every new term greater than million is 1,000 times the
previous term. Thus, billion means a thousand millions (109),
trillion means a thousand billions (1012),
and so on

For integers less than a thousand
million (<109), the two scales are identical. At and above a thousand
million (≥109), the two scales diverge by using the same words for different
number values. These "false friends" can be a source of misunderstanding!

For most of the 19th and 20th
centuries, the UK used the long scale, while the USA
used the short scale. In 1974, the UK government switched to the short scale.

2) True or false - there are more Asian elephants than African elephants.
3) What is CITES?
4) Which country is the main market for ivory?
5) How long is the gestation period of an elephant? (go to page 2 for this one)

Answers below!

ANSWERS!

1) Traditionally two, but evidence suggests that there are two species in Africa.

2) False
3) Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna
4) China
5) Up to two years.

Please note, this lesson has changed because the original website (http://worldelephantday.org/) has closed down.

Monday, 4 August 2014

Level: Advanced / C1Please click the 'Print Friendly' icon at the bottom of the page if you want to print this exercise.

How often do you look up at the clouds? You should do it more often because there's lots to see and they help you to relax!

Here is a great talk (ten minutes long) about clouds by Gavin-Pretor-Pinney of the Cloud Appreciation Society.
It is on TED, a great site for listening to English. You can turn on the subtitles and see the transcript.

1) What English idiom does he mention which describes when someone is down or depressed?
2) And which idiom is used when bad news is in store?
3) Aristophanes described clouds as the goddesses of what?
4) What does the photo of sunlight bursting out of the clouds look like?
5) What type of cloud is named after the Latin for a lock of hair?

Answers below!

ANSWERS!

1) Under a cloud
2) A cloud on the horizon
3) Idle fellows
4) Two cats dancing a salsa
5) Cirrus